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If I had shelled out money to watch a specific game only to find that they sent home essentially their 4 best players on the team, I would be pissed. There's no rule for it because it's not normally an issue. So just because they've used the tactic before doesn't make it okay.

It would be easy enough to solve this imo. Just cut out the equivalent chunk of salary for any player who is not injured and not in the building. If I take a day off of work, even if I was sent home by my employer, I don't get paid. It should be roughly equivalent. If they're gonna sit out, they need to be there or lose the pay that they were getting for that game. If the coach then decides to not play them, that's his call. (Ignoring benefits and recognizing that nba players don't work 40 hours a week anyway)

I disagree, because the man paying their salary is not the same man that sends them home. The man paying their check also pays the coach's check. I have no problem with what they did. Besides, how many people are affected? Miami is the hotbed for bandwagoners, and it's in Miami. Just because it was a nationally televised game versus the superteam doesn't make it okay for David Stern to do Popp's job. Every time in a starter sits out not due to injury, fine the team. How plausible is that? Not at all. That's why this scenario is just as ridiculous. You have to be consistent.

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"What you do is so loud, I can't hear what you say" -Andrew Luck
"If you turn the other cheek, I'm gonna hit you in the other cheek, too" -Charles Barkley
"Ego is edging greatness out" -Rick Pitino

Sophomore at the University of Louisville
Greenfield-Central High School Alum '14
Follow me on Twitter @steagles1

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

Imagine for a moment that Pop said "Wow, all three of those guys tweaked an ankle, so we sent them home to get it looked at by home physicians." Would there be "substantial sanctions" then?

Basically, he's getting fined for being honest.

I'm sure the NBA has some sort of system in place where they are allowed to investigate falsification of injuries for whatever purpose. If he had lied it would be even worse imo because nobody would believe that anyway, especially since they were all healthy the game before.

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

If Stern is apologizing about star players not playing, he needs to apologize to all those Indiana fans who bought 2004-2005 season tickets and all businesses that bought advertising from the Pacers that year. Of course that will never happen. Stern is such a dick.

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

It isn't about winning. The ratings for this game will be crap because a big chunk of their viewing audience stopped giving a crap about this game and turned it off before it started.

Stern isn't apologizing to the fans. He's apologizing to TNT, Gatorade and all the other corporate partners that paid the nba a lot of money to sponsor games like this.

To add to that point:

The league is already at a disadvantage tonight because of the Saints-Falcons game. The NFL is already an inherently more popular sport, and those are two fairly popular teams who also happen to be in the same division. One has only lost one game, and the other won the championship just three years ago and has one of the league's most marketable players in Brees. The NBA was already going to lose to the NFL tonight simply because the NFL is more popular. But even less people are going to watch the NBA tonight when you have one of the teams essentially throwing the game.

You can't essentially throw a game on national TV against the defending champions when the league is trying to get viewers from the NFL and not expect the hammer to come down.

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

I disagree, because the man paying their salary is not the same man that sends them home. The man paying their check also pays the coach's check. I have no problem with what they did. Besides, how many people are affected? Miami is the hotbed for bandwagoners, and it's in Miami. Just because it was a nationally televised game versus the superteam doesn't make it okay for David Stern to do Popp's job. Every time in a starter sits out not due to injury, fine the team. How plausible is that? Not at all. That's why this scenario is just as ridiculous. You have to be consistent.

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Miami is a hotbed of bandwagoners based on what? I'm pretty sure the Miami fan base in Miami is predominantly made up of actual fans. Bandwagoners elsewhere and in fact the ones in Miami are irrelevant to the argument. Just because you don't like how their team was created doesn't mean the fans don't deserve to watch what they paid for. In fact, they have to pay more money for the experience than other teams, so they arguably deserve it more.

And it wouldn't be hard to take away their pay from the game. It would be as easily as treating it like a suspension without pay. I thought as a fan of the Pacers you would realize the league can mandate the loss of salary, cuz our players lost a TON of money in 2004/2005.

If they don't want to play the players, fine. But if they're not injured it should be required they show up. Poppovich basically said "If we lose this game I don't really care."

HANG TIME MIDWEST BUREAU – With his Spurs facing three games in three nights on a West Coast road trip this week — at Golden State, at the L.A. Lakers, at Sacramento — San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich has an opportunity to get creative again with his roster deployment. However he decides to play it — or whoever he decides not to play — is evidently perfectly acceptable to the league.NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said Friday that the Spurs would face no fines, suspensions or other reprisals for Popovich’s decision last week to withhold the services of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker from San Antonio’s game at Utah.
“I think this is a unique season,” Silver said. “And the fans understand that competitive strategy is part of what goes into coaching this year. It’s unique and teams like the San Antonio Spurs are playing to win a championship, and I think fans understand that.”
Popovich said he picked that game “pretty much when the schedule came out” and didn’t even have them travel with the club to Salt Lake City. The league was fine with that, Silver said.“The strategic resting of particular players on particular nights is within the discretion of the teams. And Gregg Popovich in particular is probably the last coach that I would second-guess.”
For the record, the Spurs have held Duncan, Ginobili and Parker out of the same game seven times in their 10 seasons together; their record is 0-7, with a losing margin of 15 points. Last week’s loss at Utah was closer — the Jazz trailed by as many as eight points in the fourth quarter — but Popovich also did it at Portland Feb. 21 and his team got trounced 137-97.
The collective shrug at NBA HQ seems a little surprising, considering the response the Lakers got a couple decades ago when Pat Riley sat out Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Mychal Thompson for the final game of the 1989-90 season. L.A. got destroyed by 42 points that night at Portland and the league fined the Lakers $25,000. Even their owner, Jerry Buss, was quoted at the time: “Our fans would have been disappointed if the same thing happened here.”
Utah forward Paul Millsap felt insulted, calling the move “a slap in the face” and citing it as “a little motivation that … got us through.”
Popovich said he was just doing right by the Spurs, in reaction to the frantic post-lockout schedule. “However you want to look at it, 13 games in 18 days, or 16 games in 23 days or ending the season four in five nights, it’s just crazy,” he said that night. “So I’ve got to do something about it.”
But that?

Is Adam Silver going to be facing "significant sanctions" from Stern also?

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

The league is already at a disadvantage tonight because of the Saints-Falcons game. The NFL is already an inherently more popular sport, and those are two fairly popular teams who also happen to be in the same division. One has only lost one game, and the other won the championship just three years ago and has one of the league's most marketable players in Brees. The NBA was already going to lose to the NFL tonight simply because the NFL is more popular. But even less people are going to watch the NBA tonight when you have one of the teams essentially throwing the game.

You can't essentially throw a game on national TV against the defending champions when the league is trying to get viewers from the NFL and not expect the hammer to come down.

I think push is starting to come to shove here, the NBA can't have its cake and eat it too. Does San Antonio really need to go to Indiana, Toronto, Washington, and Orlando every year? Stern is diluting the product by mandating so many games, which puts a lot of wear and tear on the players. Obviously no one but Pops has done anything this drastic, but I bet at some point during a national televised game in the middle of a road trip a coach gave some starters extra rest. This kind of stuff is destined to happen given the NBA's rigorous schedule.

I think the NBA would be more popular and have a better product with less games, part of the aura of the NFL is that the teams don't play as much, people always want more. Meanwhile we all groan about having to sit through the 4th Bucks-Pacers game every year.

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Popp shouldn't care! He is doing what is in the best interest of his team. And as for bandwagoners, lots of people like Miami just for LeBron or because they won the championship. Their stadium is always packed with heat fans. So, the ticket issue is not a problem.

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"What you do is so loud, I can't hear what you say" -Andrew Luck
"If you turn the other cheek, I'm gonna hit you in the other cheek, too" -Charles Barkley
"Ego is edging greatness out" -Rick Pitino

Sophomore at the University of Louisville
Greenfield-Central High School Alum '14
Follow me on Twitter @steagles1

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

It just kills me that Stern is openly admitting to anyone who has enough sense to think about it that he does not care about the game, doesn't care about winning, doesn't care about players - it's all about the money, boys!

Look at the exact opposite in our game against the Lakers: Pop sits healthy players in a largely meaningless game (non-conference, November game) to keep them healthy, and Stern is going to fine them. Kobe plays with the flu in a largely meaningless game (non-conference, November game), and of course there is nothing. If Stern gave a hoot about the players, the fine would be for playing the sick player, not keeping the healthy players healthy.

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

I can't wait until February 2014.

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
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Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

It just kills me that Stern is openly admitting to anyone who has enough sense to think about it that he does not care about the game, doesn't care about winning, doesn't care about players - it's all about the money, boys!

Everything revolves around money. It's best to just accept that, because it's neverr going to change. Stern knows that the NBA was already going to lose against the NFL tonight. Having the Spurs throw the game ensured that even less people would watch. As Commissioner, that's going to upset you. How can you even try to compete against the NFL tonight when one of your teams clearly doesn't give a damn?

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

Popp shouldn't care! He is doing what is in the best interest of his team. And as for bandwagoners, lots of people like Miami just for LeBron or because they won the championship. Their stadium is always packed with heat fans. So, the ticket issue is not a problem.

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When I pick the Pacers games I go to, I consider the teams I'm going to watch every single time. It's not strange to think that Heat fans would pick certain games to see certain players. They sure didn't pay to watch the Boris Diaw highlight machine.

And as for the adam silver/no fine thing from last year...in the part after the first bold he said that that season was unique, talking about its condensed state. Unique, as in it's not the same as this year.

Btw, there's no slippery slope here. You're best guys have to at least be in the building and give the appearance that they're going to play, so your viewing audience doesn't turn the channel before the game even starts.

It wasn't about being the team everyone loved, it was about beating the teams everyone else loved.

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

And as for the adam silver/no fine thing from last year...in the part after the first bold he said that that season was unique, talking about its condensed state. Unique, as in it's not the same as this year.

Evidentally not all that unique if the Spurs are playing 4 games in 5 nights during a traditional 82 game season....

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
Want your own "Just Say No to Kamen" from @mkroeger pic? http://twitpic.com/a3hmca

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

Evidentally not all that unique if the Spurs are playing 4 games in 5 nights during a traditional 82 game season....

However, they were already in Florida from their game in Orlando the night before and it was a blowout from the beginning. They could have easily only played their guys 20 minutes then put them out for 20 minutes the next night if they wanted to rest them.

They get paid ridiculous amounts of money for being very good at something that people like to watch. Saying that they need rest from 4 hours of availability and 30 minutes of basketball is ridiculous. They're professionals.

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

Man, this is some of the most inspired basketball I've ever seen in the NBA! I can understand where Stern is coming from as far as marketability and sponsorship concerns, but this group is just flat outplaying the Heat right now.

Re: Spurs to be punished for resting players

However, they were already in Florida from their game in Orlando the night before and it was a blowout from the beginning. They could have easily only played their guys 20 minutes then put them out for 20 minutes the next night if they wanted to rest them.

They get paid ridiculous amounts of money for being very good at something that people like to watch. Saying that they need rest from 4 hours of availability and 30 minutes of basketball is ridiculous. They're professionals.

Well then the NFL should go to two games a week and double the amount of games in a season, and there should only be one starting pitcher. :eyeroll: Yeah they are professionals, but it isn't like they are playing a nice relaxing sport like bowling. There is a physical toll taken by these players, and it only gets more difficult as they get older (notice Pop is resting his old guys not his young ones). It isn't like high school or college were you play one game a week, so when you do play multiple games within 2 or 3 days you are more physically able to recover quickly. For the most part these guys are playing almost every other day already. That is why you hear about players "taking a night off". It isn't because they are lazy, but because they just can't play that many games in such a compact schedule.